Patent GB-165137-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in magnetic means for producing, modifying, and transmitting, mechanical movements at variable speeds
IPC: H02K41/00
Filed: 1920-01-21
Abstract: 165,137. Fereday, H. J. Jan. 21, 1920. Variable-speed epicyclic gearing.-Magnetic means are employed to produce the rolling in a circular path of a ring in or upon, or the swashing of a plate against a plane or curved stationary or rotating fulcrum body, the rotation on its own axis of the ring or plate being conveyed directly by flexible means to the driven shaft &c. and the mechanical parts being adjustable while running in order to provide a variable.speed, or the rotation on its own axis of the rolling or swashing member may be prevented, the fulcrum member being then the driven member; in a modification, adjustable rolling rings rotate on arms adjustably secured to the driven shaft. In the case where rolling occurs, any one or more of the members is made conical so that, by axial adjustment, paths of different diameter are brought into operation, while where swash-plates are used, their inclination to their shafts is altered, in each case the shaft speed being thereby modified. Additional rings or plates, which may act as idlers or as additional driven members, may be arranged between the fulcrum elements and the first-mentioned rolling or swashing elements. Current may be supplied in turn to the magnets by commutator action or may pass through the rolling or swashing parts, which themselves serve to make and break the necessary circuits to cause attraction or both attraction and repulsion between the parts. In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 20, 23, and 54, a swash-plate A is connected by a universal joint g, G to an insulated driven shaft F, and bears upon the insulated gun-metal or like segments E of a circular ring carried in a stationary frame C, the poles of horseshoe magnets B being connected to the segments E. Current is supplied by a lead j to the plate A or to the shaft F, whence it is conveyed through the plate A to one of the segments, from which it passes to the coil of the next magnet on the right, which thus exerts a pull tending to roll the plate around the path E. The current then passes to a common negative lead p. In order to vary the speed of drive, the shaft is adjusted axially by a nut H screwing into the standard I and bearing against collars h<2>, h<3> on the shaft. The inclination of the ring A is thus changed so that it engages with a path of different radius on the frame C, the velocity of the shaft F, which in this construction is in the same direction as the swashing motion of the plate A, increasing as the path decreases. In order to prevent sparking, a high resistance b' or a condenser is inserted between the segments or the magnets. In a modification the current is first conveyed to an additional weak coil on the magnet poles at the moment in contact with the swash-plate. This increases the magnetic attraction and tends t) steady the speed of swashing with variation of voltage. In further modifications, a weak coil on the magnet to the left of the swash-plate is first excited. An additional winding passing in series around all the magnets and in shunt or series with the main circuit may be used. The current through the resistance b' may be used to excite additional windings to assist the main windings or to oppose them to assist demagnetization. The magnets and windings may be so arranged as to produce a left hand drive, or so that, by the use of a reversing-switch, drive may take place in either direction. In the last arrangement, additional insulated segments may be placed between the magnet segments. In a further modification, an undivided multipolar magnet insulated from the segments may be used, the current being conveyed direct from the segments to the magnet windings. The current may be direct or alternating. Three or other polyphase currents may be used and where the speed of swashing synchronizes with the periodicity, horseshoe or multipolar magnets are placed around an undivided pathway. When the swashing does not synchronize with the periodicity, the pathway segments are insulated, the current in one of the phases at a time being taken through two adjacent magnets in parallel or in series. A single swash-plate may engage two opposed stationary plates, or two or more swash-plates may engage separate stationary plates and turn with a single shaft, or may oper- .ate separate shafts, the motions of which are synchronized by passing the current circulating in the first motor in series or in parallel through all the motors. In the form shown in Figs. 27 and 32, two swash-plates A, A<2> are connected universally through a ring Q, the plate A<2> being further universally jointed to the driven shaft f, and the plates bear respectively on stepped or conical pathways E, E<2> en either side. Multipolar magnets are used, those on one side being in electrical connection with the pathway, while on the other side four 4, 5, 6, 7 of the six poles are insulated from the pathway segments, of which three only 1, 2, 3, are active electrically. In the modification shown in Fig. 42, the swashplate A rotates with the driven shaft f<6> and its swashing is assisted by the rotation of a power shaft f<4> . An inclined plate t is secured to the shaft f<4> and carries a slide t<3> pressed radially by a spring t<6>, the ball end u<2> of an extension u on the plate A engaging with a groove in the slide so that the plate is swashed but does not rotate rigidly with the shaft f<4>. In a further modification, a. swash-plate turning with one shaft bears upon a second swash-plate turning with a second shaft and bearing on a stationary pathway. Fig. 33 shows a similar device in which rolling parts are substituted for swashing parts. A cone a<7> connected by a rubber tube r, coiled spring, or other flexible connection to a shaft f<3> is adjustable axially to bring surfaces of different radius into rolling contact with a fixed ring E carrying the magnets B. A non-adjustable ring a<8> rolls on the cone a' and is flexibly connected to a second shaft f<2>. A uniform speed reverse to the direction of rolling is thus given to the shaft f<2>, while the speed of the shaft f<3>, which is also reverse, increases as the cone a<7> moves towards the left. Additional speed imposed upon either shaft, as by the handle shown, produces proportional additional speed of the other shaft. In a form of the invention with rolling parts, the rolling motion being assisted by the rotation of a power shaft, as shown in Fig. 42, a plate perpendicular to the shaft carries a spring-pressed slide, on a pin on which rotates the soft iron rolling wheel in contact with an adjustable cone carrying the magnets. A flexible shaft conveys the rotation on its own axis of the, wheel, which is reverse to the direction of rolling, to the driven shaft. In a further modification, the fulcrum body is rotatable in either direction, the rotation of the rolling or swashing body being thereby increased or decreased. In the construction shown in Fig. 47, a series of rollers A<2> bear on the magnetic pathway and rotate on spindles X jointed to a member Y secured to the driven shaft F. A screw H adjusts the shaft F, and springs C<3> bearing on the spindles X maintain engagement between the rollers and the pathway. The smaller the pathway on which the rollers A<2> run, the greater the velocity of the rollers on their spindles and the greater the speed of the shaft F.